‘W-What is happening?!’ Marquess Classy couldn’t believe what was happening before his eyes. Before coming to this place, the Brodstock Army was riled up with fever and passion to destroy all of the Emperor’s enemies. Although their numbers were a bit small since they had gotten only the standing army that they could immediately mobilize, their skills and prestige were incomparably higher than that of any other army. Yet, this mighty Brodstock Army was falling. It was such an unbelievable sight that Marquess Classy could only manage to stare blankly at the battlefield.
When the Brodstock Army and the Bellid forces first clashed, Marquess Classy was sure that the Empire had made the right decision to attack first. Their knights and mages magnificently blocked the Bellid knights and priests’ attacks, and monsters failed to pass over their elite soldiers’ spears and shields. There was no doubt that the Bellids were a formidable enemy; after all, no matter how low the monsters’ level was, their physical attributes were superior to humans, and the Bellid knights and priests were all quite skilled. Yet, a war couldn’t be won by individual skills alone.
Marquess Classy issued commands with his superb expertise in battle and his capable officers and soldiers carried them out perfectly. They moved like they were one body and creature. Their orderly, single-minded movements weren’t something an organization like the Bellids that was more of a religious organization at its core than a military one could mimic. Thus, it was the empire that had the upper hand in the beginning.
Though it was hard to believe that a snob who had delighted in his subordinate’s flattery not long ago would be so capable, Marquess Classy moved the empire’s army like they were his own arms and legs to push back the Bellids. Just as his flatterers said, the Marquess was the best commander in the Empire. Like that, it seemed like the war would end with the Empire’s victory.
Yet, this thought was shattered by the appearance of the Demon People.
It wasn’t like their presence was out of the Empire's expectations. They also had resources detailing various Demon People abilities that the Karuwimans had handed to them. Yet, the Empire thought that these resources simply greatly exaggerated the Demon People’s powers. Now, they were facing the price of underestimating their enemy.
“Kuh! W-Why are you...!”
“No! My body is moving on its own...!”
“Let go of me! Let go....ahhhh!”
There was the Puppeteer who controlled people using threads so thin that they could only be seen under the bright sunlight.
“Damn it! Swords don’t work... kuahh!”
“Block it with your shield! Shield...!”
“There’s no use! Swords or shields don’t work on it!”
There was the Ghost, who could pass through shields like a spirit and attack their enemy.
“Take it off! Take...ahhh!”
“Kkrugh! Kkruugh!”
There were plants that nourished themselves with humans to make fancy flowers bloom the same color as blood.
“One big bite!”
“Red blood forest. Can’t take many! Can’t take too many...! No, I can't! Too big! Won’t budge with even a spear! Stompp...! Gur!”
Then, there was the giant wandering around the battlefield with its large and tough body as its sole weapon. Although its appearance and skills were incredibly strange and simple, its powers were formidable and only the knights and mages could deal with it. Yet, even they didn’t dare to fight the Demon People individually and were tied down by the Bellid knights and mages. The moment they turned their backs to deal with the Demon People, their enemy's swords and magic would strike their backs.
As the Demon People wreaked havoc on the battlefield, monsters flooded in between the gaps. The sturdy frontlines were crushed while the orderliness of their army was nowhere to be found. The only thing remaining for the Empire was the individual skills of each of its fighters. Even the well-honed, elite soldiers of the Empire’s army lacked behind the monsters in terms of physical attributes.
“Damn it!” Marquess Classy continued to give out commands even while cursing. He deployed reserve forces and blocked the gaps that had formed and did all he could to take some mages and knights out of the mix to stop the Demon People. It really was a splendid display of commanding skills and explained why the Emperor had appointed Marquess Classy as the commander-in-chief of this hastily built extermination army. Yet, even Marquess Classy’s commanding skills failed to change the course of battle. The powers of their armies were too vastly different.
“Baron Latane.”
“Yes, sir!”
Marquess Classy called the deputy next to him.
“I will leave the cleaning up to you.”
“Sorry, sir?”
“Lead the soldiers and retreat. Tell the Emperor that I will take responsibility for everything and that I apologize for failing to meet his expectations.”
The Baron opened his mouth to say something, but his lips simply moved silently. Eventually, he closed his mouth again. Baron Latane also thought they had lost this battle and the only thing they could do was to retreat. For them to do that, however, their enemy was too strong. If they retreated haphazardly, they would only suffer greater casualties. They needed a sacrifice to clutch their enemy by their heels for some time, and the Marquess planned to offer himself up as the sacrifice.
“...It was an honor to serve you, sir.”
“Hm.” Marquess Classy nodded once and began to give out orders with a loud voice. He fumbled around with the marshal baton the Emperor gave him, and at that moment, Marquess Classy felt that the baton was especially heavy. He carefully placed the baton with his other belongings and pulled out a sword instead. His sword glinted with brilliance, symbolizing his status and authority.
Yet, Marquess Classy looked at his sword’s fancy decorations wistfully. They seemed to symbolize the Empire’s pride right now, and it was this pride that had resulted in their loss this time.
‘Should we have listened to the Karuwimans?’ Marquess Classy fully realized why things had reached this state. Like the Karuwimans had told him, their enemy wasn’t someone they should have underestimated. Even if they didn’t use their military defenses, they should’ve at least amassed all their troops to push away the Bellids. However, regret always came when it was too late. The only thing he could do was at least warn the Emperor of the Bellids’ dangerousness through Baron Latane.
‘Now I have to pick a death squad.’ He needed to pick out a squad to meet the same fate as him. Since his opponent’s forces were strong, he couldn’t pick out any random soldiers with subpar skills.
The Marquess soon made his decision. He mounted his horse and charged forward, leading his men.
On that day, the Brodstock Imperial Army was destroyed.
* * *
Despite Marquess Classy’s sacrifice, most of the Brodstock Imperial Army did not survive. The army collapsed, and the survivors only managed to escape by running recklessly to a nearby village, rather than making an orderly retreat. When the defeated soldiers began to appear alone or one by one, the Empire realized that the dispatched troops had met a crushing defeat.
Naturally, the Empire was turned upside down. The forces that were destroyed in this battle were no ordinary troops; they were the strongest army in the Empire. Now that the entire army was destroyed, there was a huge gap in the Empire’s power.
The reason why the imperial army was renowned for its strength was that the army had participated in numerous wars. So naturally, the Empire had many enemies. However, the Empire had no time to care about any foreign or external enemies because monsters had completely devoured the elite imperial soldiers, disrupting and causing chaos inside the very heart of the Empire.
The Brodstock Empire quickly tried to build a new force. They left a minimum number of troops at the border and even made sweeping recruit campaigns. The Emperor realized how serious the situation was and began to consider the support measures proposed by the Karuwimans. However, it was all too late. The Bellids continuously cast their attacks against the Empire as if they were determined to not give the Empire time to regain its power.
Screams came from all sides. The Bellids occupied villages, cities, and fortresses. After the imperial army was crushed, the Bellids swept through the Empire and occupied the areas like a tidal wave. The Empire was surrounded without having enough time to respond. By this time, the Emperor really only had a handful of troops left. Their miserable situation made it hard to believe that just recently, they used to be a leading country feared by neighboring countries as a military superpower.
However, the Emperor still tried to hold out somehow. Not all of the Empire’s forces had disappeared yet. If they just held on for a bit longer, the troops from local provinces and borders would arrive at the capital. However, the Emperor’s hopes and expectations were completely crushed by another wave of soldiers from the Bellids, and eventually, the capital fell. The startling news that the capital of one of the continent’s leading military empires was occupied by fanatics immediately began to spread throughout the world.
* * *
“In the end, it fell,” Zich said in a relaxed voice. However, none of the people around him reacted as coldly as him.
“Those bloody pests finally...!” Weig gritted his teeth. If he gritted them a bit more, his teeth would probably all break.
Lubella sighed. “Sir Zich, it turned out exactly like you said.”
“What a stupid emperor! What a bunch of incompetent aristocrats!” Weig continued to spew insults at the Brodstock Empire. As the representation of the Karuwimans’ military strength, Weig would have normally kept his insults to himself as it would have been problematic for him to insult the emperor and nobles of an empire. However, such concerns were meaningless now that all the people who would have complained about it had foolishly died.
“Sir Weig, calm down. Since we can’t help what happened, let’s focus on thinking about future measures.”
At Zich’s dissuasion, Weig stopped cursing but still huffed in anger while letting out steam from his nose.
“What is His Holiness preparing to do?” Zich decided to first ask about the Pope’s intentions.
“His Holiness is calling for all priests from all the branches, and the holy knights are all preparing for battle. Now that the Bellids’ main base has been revealed, he is determined to uproot and eradicate their roots.” This was an obvious decision from the leader of the Karuwimans; Lubella and Weig’s thoughts were not much different from the Pope as well.
“So, how is he going to manage that troop? Is he planning to advance directly to the Bellids’ main base?” Zich asked.
“We’d love to, but...” Lubella’s voice faded because it seemed as if the Bellids’ power was far beyond their imagination. In such a short time, they had destroyed the famous Brodstock Empire, renowned for its military power. It was not wise to push the Karuwiman troops into the Bellids’ main base without significant preparation.
“I had no idea that the Bellids would be so strong,” Lubella lamented.
Weig groaned at Lubella’s words. He looked extremely reluctant to acknowledge the Bellids’ strength. However, considering that Weig did not open his mouth to deny the Bellids’ strength, it was obvious that the Karuwimans clearly realized how dangerous the Bellids were.
“Sir Zich, how do you think the Bellids will move?” Weig asked a question. His eyes were sparkling with hope as if he was looking at a Bellid information expert. He wasn’t wrong, either, since Zich was directly receiving information about the Bellids through Ultel.
“They’ll come to the Cronon Kingdom,” Zich answered.
“May I ask why you think so?”
“It’s because that’s where I’m most likely to appear.”
“Hmm. Well, from their point of view, you’re someone who should be ripped into shreds,” Weig said and nodded.
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